{"id":38609,"date":"2026-06-02T15:11:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T15:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Ilia-Topuria-issues-scathing-response-to-Justin-Gaethjes-father-201406"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:11:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T15:11:57","slug":"ilia-topuria-issues-scathing-response-to-justin-gaethjes-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ilia-topuria-issues-scathing-response-to-justin-gaethjes-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria issues scathing response to Justin Gaethje\u2019s father"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> has a strong response to Justin
\nGaethje<\/a>\u2019s father\u2019s latest comments.<\/p>\n

Interim champion Gaethje (27-5) will challenge Topuria (17-0) for
\nthe lightweight title in the main event at
\nUFC White House<\/a> on June 14. Gaethje\u2019s father, John Ray Gaethje,
\nacknowledges it as one of the biggest fights of his son\u2019s life.
\nHowever, with this being Gaethje\u2019s third challenge for an
\nundisputed title, his father recalls thinking the same about
\nseveral past matchups. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gaethje\u2019s father believes it\u2019s just another fight for \u201cThe
\nHighlight\u201d against a \u201cshort guy,\u201d the likes of whom he has
\npreviously beaten. Gaethje Sr. believes his son will beat Topuria
\njust like he beat Michael
\nChandler<\/a>, Rafael
\nFiziev<\/a>, and other short guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the biggest fight of his life. But we\u2019ve said that three
\nor four other times\u2026 He\u2019s fighting another little short guy, and
\nhe’s done really well against Chandler, Fiziev, and a few others,\u2019
\nGaethe\u2019s father said on YouTube. \u201cI just see the same thing
\nhappening for this fight. This is what we trained for. This is what
\nhe put his whole life into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Familiar Story<\/h2>\n

Topuria believes Gaethje\u2019s father is merely being hopeful. Topuria
\nrecalls other bigger fighters dismissing him because of his small
\nstature, only to fall to him inside the Octagon. Topuria believes
\nGaethje already knows what he is up against and that his father
\nwill learn the same at UFC White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cFathers hope. Champions know,\u201d Topuria wrote on X. \u201cI\u2019ve heard
\nthis story before: bigger men, stronger men, better men. Men who
\nsaid I was just a small guy who was about to get a lesson in
\nhumility. They all learned the truth the same way. Your son already
\nknows who I am. On June 14th, you will too. 18-0 PAPA.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Fathers hope. Champions know.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard this story before: bigger men, stronger men, better men.
\nMen who said I was just a small guy who was about to get a lesson
\nin humility.<\/p>\n

They all learned the truth the same way.<\/p>\n

Your son already knows who I am. On June 14th, you will\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/gh92btnpDG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> (@Topuriailia)
\nJune 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ilia Topuria has a strong response to Justin Gaethje\u2019s father\u2019s latest comments. Interim champion Gaethje (27-5) will challenge Topuria (17-0) for the lightweight title in the main event at UFC White House on June 14. Gaethje\u2019s father, John Ray Gaethje, acknowledges it as one of the biggest fights of his son\u2019s life. However, with this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}